1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical adapters for protecting electrical connections of various electrical devices and/or optoelectronic devices, such as transceivers, transponders, and transmitters. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electrical adapter than can be placed between an electrical and/or optoelectronic device and a testing device which prolongs the life of the electrical interface on the electrical/optoelectronic device and/or testing device which may have fragile electrical interfaces.
2. The Relevant Technology
The electrical interfaces of many electrical and/or optoelectronic devices are quite strong, able to withstand large numbers or insertions and removals to and from the complementary interfaces of other devices. However, some electrical interfaces, such as the OIF99.102.8, are more fragile. The OIF99.102.8 interface is composed of small pins known as leaves and blades. The female side of the connector contains leaves. Each leaf is a pair of pins that act together as a spring-like mechanism for holding a “blade” of a complementary interface. Each blade is a single pin, slightly wider and shorter pin than the individual pins of the leaves. Each blade is designed to fit between a pair of leaf pins.
The leaves of such interfaces are typically more easily bent or damaged than the blades. A “lifetime” rating may be associated with the female side of the interface, indicating the number of insertions and removals the female side of the interface is likely to withstand before at least one leaf is damaged, making the interface unusable. For instance, the female side of the interface may have a lifetime rating of as few as 30 insertions and removals, indicating that most interfaces will withstand at least 30 insertions and removals, although some may fail after fewer insertions and removals.
When transceivers, transponders, and transmitters are expensive, the limited life of the electrical interface can result in a significant waste of resources. Because the electrical interface is often the first thing to break, an otherwise fully functional transponder may require expensive repair or may need to be replaced entirely when the only defect in the transceiver, transponder, and transmitter is a broken electrical interface.
During manufacturing, most optoelectronic devices, including transceivers, transponders, and transmitters, are made with electrical interfaces that are able to withstand the maximum number of insertions and removals that can be expected of electrical interfaces with pins that are small and fragile by nature. However, as a matter of statistics, it is inevitable that some electrical interfaces will be manufactured with pins that will break particularly easily, thus rendering the optoelectronic device unusable after a relatively few number of insertions and removals. For optoelectronic devices with these particularly fragile interfaces, the ability to reduce the total number of insertions and removals required to use the optoelectronic device may result in a significantly longer life for the device.
A similar problem arises with testers. Electrical interfaces of testers are typically less fragile than those of transponders and transceivers, but they nevertheless have a limited lifetime in terms of insertions and removals. As a result, a tester may be used to test a limited number of transponders before the electrical interface on the tester's evaluation board will likely break. When a tester, or the evaluation board of the tester, is particularly expensive, the result is that expensive repair or replacement costs may need to be incurred in order to fix an otherwise fully functional tester or evaluation board.